Farmers Movement Archive

Gurwinder reaps rewards for his bicycle trip

For Gurwinder Singh, cycling 420 km to the Singhu border from Ferozepur turned out to be a blessing as the Good Samaritans in Italy and Canada reached out to him and bought him a bike, besides helping him to set up a tea kiosk in his village. Gurwinder paid his gratitude by coming back to the Singhu border on his motorcycle. The 29-year-old landless labourer from Ferozepur had come on his bicycle to mark his presence at the protest on December 22 because he believed that God and his Gurus reside where there is sangat and that the protest site is a place of worship. The Hindu had reported his four-days three-nights journey while videos of him cycling his way to the protest site were shared on social media. Two days after he reached home on January 25, he received a call from a family in Italy. “We loved what you did. We’ve been staying here for the last 10 years and couldn’t gather the courage to come to India for this protest. So the next time you go, you’ll go on a bike,” they told Gurvinder. After the call, an elated Gurvinder started looking for a second- hand bike and bought one for Rs. 24,000. “They asked for my bank account number but I didn’t have. So I gave them my wife’s. They had sent Rs. 26,000 in my account so I kept Rs. 2,000 for petrol,” he said, adding that he video called the family in Italy and showed them the bike. Soon after, Gurwinder was on his way to the Singhu border on his new bike. “I reached the protest site in 18 hours on December 31 and spent the New Year with my farmer brothers,” said Gurvinder, who returned home on January 6. Call from Canada In addition to the bike, a family from Canada also reached out to Gurvinder and offered to help him set up a tea kiosk in his village. They’ve sent Rs. 25,000 so far, he said. “People from the village have been coming to my house to praise me. They say I’ve made them proud and made Ferozepur’s name famous. One person gave me a pair of shoes and another provided me one month’s ration,” he said. Gurvinder, father of 11-month- old twins, said he feels short of words to describe the feelings. “I believed the site to be a place of worship and for me, God has proved it to be”.

The Hindu

2021-01-09

NEW DELHI